The original KissCam® video was introduced in North America in the 1980s and has proven to be one of the most crowd-pleasing advertising tools in history. KissCam® is a social contest that takes place during arena, stadium and court sporting events in the United States and Canada. It is intended as a light-hearted diversion to the main event during a timeout, television timeout, or similar downtime. A ‘KissCam®’ camera scans the crowd, and selects a couple, their images being shown on the Jumbotron® screens in the arena. The couple are then invited to kiss one another, encouraged by the rest of the audience. A kiss is traditionally rewarded by cheers and whistles, whereas a refusal to kiss is booed.
When the KissCam® is in action, the audience may be alerted by a known ‘kiss-related’ song being played, and/or an announcer warning the crowd. The crowd attending then pay attention to the marked ‘KissCam®’ video screen. Normally several consecutive couples are selected and appear on the screen. As each pair appear onscreen, they are then expected to kiss. Additionally, sporting event staff may appear as couples who reject kisses or proposals in order to entertain or surprise the attending audience.
As all eyes turn to the KissCam® segment, they also linger on the sponsor's logo. It is still the crowd favorite. When the Kiss Cam catches you, you know what you're going to do. Participants never forget the first time they embarrassed themselves in front of 40,000 people. The growth in popularity and use of KissCam® has been phenomenal and promises to continue to grow.
As KissCam® has grown, however, significant changes have occurred in both the venues where the contest may be played and expectations of the contest participants. Geographically, new venues are moving back to the city, anchoring larger mixed-use real estate developments and creating “arena districts” that reshape commercial activity in the neighborhood. Meanwhile, fans are playing an increasingly important role in shaping and directing the experience-interacting with teams and players in new ways on the field, in the concourses, and outside the stadium.
Concurrent to these trends in stadium construction, over the past fifty years, transformative advances in consumer technology have occurred. Increases in computing power and the shift to mobile and cloud computing as the dominant paradigm have fundamentally reshaped commerce. Today's smartphone owner carries a device with processing power that would have required a computer the size of a stadium fifty years ago.
These trends are increasingly converging. The sports industry is moving toward a new model in which the stadium is a technological and commercial platform. This change subverts the traditional way of thinking about the stadium experience. It is no longer enough to only consider the role of sightlines, seat width, and the price of beer. Teams need to engage their fans and event-goers to encourage them to shape their own experience.
While the platform concept requires an organizational and operational mindset shift for teams and stadium operators, teams that embrace it in stadium design, construction, and operation will be on the vanguard of offering their fans the best experience in the stadium of the future.
In a day of increased recognition of the KissCam® contest, the enhanced technological and social importance of the large stadium or gathering venues, and the ever-increasing power of the venue participants to influence stadium and gathering activities, a new demand for an enhance KissCam® contest arises.